


Just Checking: Duke and Nathan

by serendipityxxi



Series: Just Checking [6]
Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-08
Updated: 2016-04-08
Packaged: 2018-05-31 22:56:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6490660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serendipityxxi/pseuds/serendipityxxi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>6 times one of our OT3 had to check just to make sure one of the others is okay post the Troubles and one time they didn't have to. Duke checks in on Nathan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Checking: Duke and Nathan

Nathan comes back from getting coffee to find six foot two inches of lanky smuggler slouched in his desk chair, playing, from the sound of it, plants vs zombies on his work computer. Duke’s dark curls have been tousled by the wind on the drive over here no doubt. They hang into his eyes and Nathan’s fingers itch with the impulse to brush them back. He knows they will feel cool from the wind and silky under his touch and it is still a small miracle every time he realizes he can feel that now.

“Up!” he commands, securing Duke’s attention. Duke’s eyes go wide and then his shoulders relax like he hadn’t been expecting Nathan. It's only his office. He pouts up at him. Nathan rolls his eyes and shuts his office door behind him.

“Y’know you really should password protect your computer, Chief. Anyone could walk in and see all these lovely files,” Duke says, still playing the game somehow though his eyes are firmly on Nathan, darting around his person as if he’s checking for wounds.

It’s those looks that give him away. Nathan wants to let his eyes go soft, wants to hold on and let Duke know he’s okay and he appreciates the concern and he knows how bad it can get. He doesn’t know how Duke will react to that coming from him, doesn’t know that their relationship, even this incarnation, allows for that. They’re still feeling it out mostly. If he knows one thing though it’s that Duke hates being vulnerable. So, Nathan rolls his eyes and opts for normality instead.

“I do have a password!” he huffs, dropping his arms to his sides so Duke can see he’s okay.

“Pffft,” Duke waves his hand dismissively, “a real password is not pancakes14.”

Nathan sets the coffee cup on the edge of the desk, out of the way. 

“Out of my chair, Duke,” he orders, choosing to ignore the slight on his password choosing abilities in favor of looming over his pirate in his best intimidating way. 

“I come all the way down here to bring you lunch and that’s the greeting I get?” Duke complains, not budging a muscle.

Nathan plants his hands on both arms of the chair and leans into Duke’s space. Duke’s eyes go wild and wary, looking anywhere but at Nathan. Nathan puts his thumb on Duke’s chin, fingers stroking along the soft scruff of his jaw and kisses him quickly. A new kind of normal. Who says Nathan Wuornos can’t adapt to new just fine?

“Hi,” he says with a smirk when he pulls away. “I’m fine,” he adds, letting go of Duke's chin to walk around the back of the chair.

Duke’s jaw drops open. “I didn’t think you weren’t,” he stutters out and Nathan’s grin grows. 

“Liar,” he murmurs, makes sure Duke can feel his breath against his ear when he says it. Then he tips the chair and Duke squawks and scrambles to his feet. 

“You messed up my high score,” he complains, throwing himself down on Nathan’s couch and kicking his heels up on the arm. 

Nathan knows Duke does that because Nathan hates it. And despite the nonchalance of his pose Nathan can see his shoulders are tense, his eyes wary. 

Nathan settles into his chair and scans the office. He purses his lips and looks at Duke. “So, where is it?” he asks.

“Where’s what?” Duke asks in return, giving him a wide-eyed look of innocence.

“Lunch?” Nathan prompts. 

“Oh,” Duke waves his hand, “I forgot it, figured we could go grab something at Rosemary’s maybe.”

Nathan hits save in his document and closes word then shuts his laptop with a snap. The plastic is smooth and cool to the touch. He stands and grabs his jacket from the hook by the door, the soft fabric scrunches in his hand. He looks at Duke who is looking at him in confusion.

“Thought you wanted lunch?” Nathan says and Duke scrambles off the couch, bounces to his feet, clearly he’d been expecting more of an argument. It makes Nathan smirk at catching him off guard. 

“You’re buying,” Duke tells Nathan who rolls his eyes again. 

“Then we’re getting McDonalds dollar menu lunches,” Nathan threatens.

Duke scoffs and Nathan is about to open the door when Duke’s arms go around his waist from behind, his chin settles on Nathan’s shoulder. Nathan relaxes into the embrace, feels the warmth of Duke's torso through both their shirts, feels Duke inhale slow and deep against his ear. “Thanks,” he murmurs.

“For what?” Nathan asks, stroking his thumb across Duke’s forearm through the softness of his sweater. 

“For being okay, for still being here,” Duke says with quiet vehemence. Nathan turns in his embrace and sees the raw fear in his eyes. He doesn’t know what triggered it but he kisses Duke, long and deep, trying to erase it, trying to ground him in the here and now and none of the hundreds of possible ways their reality could have gone wrong.

When they pull away Duke looks a little more secure and a little bit embarrassed at his admission. 

“Come on,” Nathan says before he can go too far down the embarrassment rabbit hole, “you’re buying me lunch.”

They bicker good-naturedly all the way down to Rosemary’s.

When Nathan comes back to the office he changes his password to Bronco14 with a grin. It won’t take Duke long to crack this one either. Nathan grins because after everything, all the bad they endured, they made it. They came out the other side to a place where he doesn’t care if Duke has access to his files, where Audrey doesn’t worry about losing herself, where he can let himself feel without being braced for the next blow. _They made it._


End file.
